Norwegian Breakaway is Moving to New Orleans

We are getting a new cruise ship that will port in Louisiana… The Norwegian Breakaway will be leaving its current home of New York City (The Big Apple) and moving to New Orleans (The Big Easy) in November 2018.  This will be the largest ship ever to sail from our home port. 

And guess who will be on the first sailing???  That’s right, we will! 

Biggest ship we have ever seen

Photo from NCL.com

I only found out about this repositioning a few weeks ago and my mind started whirling.  We first saw this mega ship a few years ago as it was being built and was featured on Smithsonian Channel’s ‘Mighty Ships’.  There were two episodes: one of the build and one of the maiden voyage.  The ship was huge and magnificent and we immediately said we wanted to sail on that ship! 

Smithsonian channel’s description of the Norwegian Breakaway:

Three times the size of the Titanic, the mega cruise ship Norwegian Breakaway is the largest vessel ever to call New York City home. And the challenges involved in her construction were equally massive. Go behind the scenes for a rare, exclusive look at the building of this Mighty Ship, as Germany’s Meyer-Werft Shipyard takes on their biggest and fastest build ever. With only 18 months to complete the job, and ticket sales for the maiden voyage already going fast, the high-stakes race is on for Breakaway to sail into ship-building history.

After watching, I saw where she would port from and was a bit disappointed to learn it was New York.  So when I found out this ship was coming to our back door I was ‘all aboard’!  For extra excitement, the ship will go through a two-week dry dock before the transition happens.  We sailed on the Carnival Dream not long after her dry dock and it was like being on a brand new ship!  I am curious to see if the ship will get a new exterior paint job to reflect a New Orleans skyline instead of New York.

This ship is truly amazing! 

Photo from ECruising Travel

It has five HUGE water slides, two pools, a kids water park and lots of hot tubs.  The sports complex boasts the ‘largest-at-sea ropes course’ where you will maneuver through 40 elements in this multi-level structure, part of which even extends over the edge of the ship!!!  Yes, you can ‘walk the plank’!!! And there is also a climbing wall.  Let’s see if we are brave enough for these… 

One of the events we are most excited for is to see ‘Rock of Ages’!  We absolutely love the movie and have always wanted to see it on Broadway, but have never made it to New York.  This will be the next best thing!!!

So many food options!!!

Photo from NCL.com

Let’s not get started on all of the restaurants on board…   

• Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville at Sea to get the perfect ‘cheeseburger in paradise’
• O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill which boasts great pub food at no extra cost
• Shanhai’s Noodle Bar for ‘fresh noodle dishes that are prepared just the way you like them’
• Teppanyaki for the perfect Japanese Hibachi at sea
• Le Bistro featuring signature French and Mediterranean food
• Cagney’s Steakhouse or if you want your meat with some flair try Moderno Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse right next door – both have waterfront seating
• La Cucina Italian ristorante – has waterfront seating

And this is just the specialty dining!!!  Needless to say, we won’t go hungry!

The Breakaway’s arrival

The Breakaway will arrive in New Orleans from a 14-day repositioning cruise on November 11, 2018.  We will board on this date and sail away for seven days to Cozumel, Mexico; Costa Maya, Mexico and Norwegian’s private port at Harvest Caye, Belize.  The 4,000 passenger ship will then begin regular seven-, ten- and eleven-night cruises to the Western Caribbean, visiting additional ports such as Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman, and Roatan, Honduras.

New adventure for EECC Travels

Harvest Caye, Belize – Photo from NCL.com

We are extremely excited for this cruise as it will be a lot of firsts for us!  First time on a ship other than Carnival.  First time to Costa Maya, Mexico and to Harvest Caye, Belize – Norwegian’s private island.  It will be the first time cruising without the kids (yes it will be just the two of us).  And first time with a balcony room!  I am a bit nervous on this one because people have told me that once you have a balcony, you can’t go back to an interior… Hope that is not true.  But we got such a good deal on the balcony room that we couldn’t pass it up! 

Now we have over a year to sit back and plan. We can figure out all of the places on the ship where we want to eat, which shows are a must and see if we can find some videos of those water slides… truth be told a couple of them look pretty scary.  We also have plenty of time to properly research the ports and decide what excursions will be best for us.

Have you evern sailed on the Breakaway?  If so, let us know about your experience!

Happy cruising!

Want to see more from our cruising adventures?  See these previous posts.

Here is the official press release from Norwegian Cruise Lines.

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Thanks,
Alisa
EECC Travels